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Grand Mound
Grand Mound is a community and census-designated place (CDP) in Thurston County, Washington. It was named and founded by Jotham Weeks Judson, father of Phoebe Judson, in 1851. The population was 2,981 at the 2010 census. History Founded in 1851, stage service arrived in 1854. In 1913, the Washington State School for Girls (also known as the State Training School for Girls) was created, and it opened at Grand Mound on 70 acres in 1914. The school was renamed to Maple Lane School in 1959, and closed in 2011. In the 1920s, strawberries became a major crop in the area, and a processing plant was built, but during the Great Depression the industry failed and the Northern Pacific Railway closed the Grand Mound station. By 1941 the population of the area had grown to about 200 people and the community had a post office along with a store and a single gas station. In 1964, the Grand Mound Fire District was formed, which in 2002 merged with Thurston County Fire District #1 before merging into the West Thurston Regional Fire Authority. The community became a census-designated place in 1990. A new fire station was built to serve Grand Mound in 2007. In March 2008, a 398-room Great Wolf Lodge opened in Grand Mound, which was majority owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation. There are several historical markers that can be found in Grand Mound. A historical marker on 198th Ave. commemorates a successful attempt by the townswomen of Grand Mound to vote in Washington territorial elections. Just south of Grand Mound, on Old Highway 99, is an Oregon Trail marker, established in 1916 by the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution. A monument across from Grand Mound Cemetery marks the former location of Ft. Henness, a stockade built and occupied during the Puget Sound War of 1855-56. Geography It is in the southern part of Thurston County, near the county line with Lewis County, immediately north of Centralia. Interstate 5 and U.S. Route 12 serve the community, with the latter leaving Interstate 5 at the Grand Mound exit to head west to Grays Harbor. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.93 square miles (10.2 km2), all of it land. Grand Mound is located at 46°48′14″N 123°00′36″W (46.803808, -123.009964). Grand Mound is located on Grand Mound Prairie, which was named after a 125-foot (38 m) tree-covered hill in the area, which was the largest of several similar mounds in the area. Prairie Creek is the only stream within the town's limits. It flows into the nearby Chehalis River, and the confluence of the two is located immediately southwest of the town. Scatter Creek can be found just north of Grand Mound, where it flows west through the Scatter Creek Wildlife Recreation Area and makes it way to its confluence with the Chehalis River, just south of nearby Rochester. Just north of Grand Mound is the Scatter Creek Unit, a 915-acre (370.29-hectare) wildlife reserve which contains one of the few remaining areas of south Puget Sound prairie. Category:Thurston County Category:Cities & Towns Category:CDP Category:Washington State Wiki